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Information required

PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:23 pm
by mark thompson
I am currently researching my grandfahter,Harold Auther Neal,service number 5253396,according to the website he was captured at Tobruk in 1942,but after my mothers passing,I have come into his military documents.One of these documents is his discharge papers and at the back is an character reference written by an officer which states that he was a POW for 5 years,that would put his capture in 1940.I also have a photograph of him with Stalag IV B stamped in blue ink on the reverse.Who would be able to assit me with this?
Mark Thompson

Re: Information required

PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:43 pm
by Simon_Fielding
The basic material in ancestry.co.uk lists:

Name: H. A. Neal
Rank: Private
Army Number: 5253396
Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment
POW Number: 15718
Camp Type: Stalag
Camp Number: 344
Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland
Record Office: Infantry Record Office, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Record Office Number: 19

Source Information
Ancestry.com. UK, British Army Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 ? ?. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
Original data: Prisoners of War of British Army, WWII. CD. Unpublished. The Naval and Military Press, Ltd.

About UK, British Army Prisoners of War, 1939-1945
This database contains a listing of World War II British Army prisoners of war (POW). Information provided about them includes:
Name

Rank

Army number

Regiment

POW number

Camp type

Camp number

Camp location

Record office

Record Office number

Notes

The Geneva Convention of 1929 established the rules for the treatment of prisoners of war that were used in World War II. Over 100,000 soldiers of the British Army were captured during this war and placed in prisoner of war camps. There were two types of POW camps run by the Germans that soldiers of the British Army were assigned to. These were:
Oflag – camp for officers

Stalag – camp for enlisted personnel

There were separate camps for navy, aircrews, and civilians.
The German camps were named according to a numbering system, beginning with a Roman numeral representing the military district the camp was located in. Following the Roman numeral could be a letter. This letter represented a specific camp within the military district. If the camp was a sub-camp, “/Z” was then appended to the end of the number. If the camp was a main camp, then the “/H” was appended to the end of the number. You will see this nomenclature in the “Camp number” field of this database.

Re: Information required

PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:25 am
by mark thompson
Simon,
Thank you for the reply,is there an address where I can mail the scanned docs to you,according to the regimental records,he was captured 1942,on his discharge papers,he was a POW for 5 years,is this possible.

Mark

Re: Information required

PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:21 pm
by Simon_Fielding
I'm certainly no expert but I'll have a look!!

simonharveyfielding*yahoo.co.uk *=@

Best

Simon